Found
by Lire
Summary: The final sequel to "Lost" and "Searching." It's over now, Lucy's gone. Aren't we proud of her?
1. Freedom's Debts

Lucy sat with all her worldly possessions at her feet and those who would judge her in front of her.  
  
"So you're Lucy?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Sophie's told us quite a bit about you," the woman said. "The gist of it being: there are problems in your family, and you want to stay here for a while."  
  
"Yeah," Lucy mumbled, grateful that she didn't have to go into detail.  
  
"You can," the man replied.  
  
"Thank you!"  
  
"See?" Sophie cut in, "told you."  
  
"There are some rules, though." Lucy tensed. "Pretty much this: you're over eighteen, so in this house don't do anything illegal. Remember that other people sleep, so watch how much noise you make at night. That's all."  
  
"Really?" Lucy asked, immediately surprised at the lack of rules.  
  
"Sure. Now, if you get into trouble purposely, we aren't going to help you. You know the law, and if you break it and get caught, that's your own problem. But you're young and if you need help, we'll help you."  
  
Lucy continued to be shocked. There weren't a lot of rules, which was strange enough, but they were offering help-and not conditional help based on going to a certain church, or being "an acceptable" way, but just because she might need it.  
  
Lucy found that having her world turned on its ear wasn't nearly as unpleasant an experience as she'd always believed. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you-"  
  
Sophie's mother held up a hand, "You don't have to. You help someone else later in time, and your debt is passed on to them. You're not supposed to pay us back."  
  
"Come on," Sophie gestured. "I'll help you get settled."  
  
The room was small, but even so, "For me?"  
  
"Sure," Sophie shrugged. "Seriously though, yes."  
  
"Why are your parents doing this for me?"  
  
"Partly because I asked them to. Mostly because you're a good kid who's having some problems. I must admit, during high school you weren't my favorite person, but you've grown on me."  
  
"Wait. Why are you telling me this now?"  
  
"Because while you were very nice and fairly smart, you acted like a flighty, boy-crazy ditz. And I told my parents that. But I also told them how you've changed. I'm sorry, I thought you should know."  
  
Lucy wanted to be hurt, but remembering how she'd been even half a year ago, it was hard to get up justifiable anger. 'But I've changed,' she told herself. 'I've changed beyond all recognition. That's why I'm here now.' She breathed out. "I wasn't so confused as I am now, hm?"  
  
Sophie smiled. "You persisted in being someone besides yourself. So do most people our age."  
  
"You don't."  
  
"Ahh, but I am a special case. I've a Wordsworth sonnet on my mirror, Shakespeare in my head, and a broadsword by my bed. I am not, by any definition of the world, normal."  
  
In the silence that followed, Sophie looked at her watch, " 'ell. If we don't hurry, we'll be late for work.  
  
The two girls hurried off.  
  
+ + + +  
  
It was a few days after that that Sgt. Michaels first met Lucy at the library. "Do you want to talk to me?" he asked.  
  
"I've nothing to say."  
  
"Your parents have filed a missing persons report on you."  
  
"And now that you know I'm not missing, you can unfile it."  
  
"They're worried about you. Don't you want to talk to them?" he asked.  
  
"My mother offered me an unspoken ultimatum, quit my job, abandon my friends, or leave. I left. I have nothing to say to them. I am eighteen, and not on the streets. I have committed no crime," Lucy dared Sgt. Michaels.  
  
"What's been going on at your house?"  
  
"I doubt you'd believe me, even if I chose to tell you, which I don't."  
  
"You won't go back to your house?"  
  
"As I told you, I am eighteen, Sgt. Michaels. It is not my house anymore."  
  
Looking at her oddly, he left.  
  
+ + + +  
  
Simon showed up after that. "Before you say anything, just let me give you this."  
  
Lucy took the envelope and felt its weight. "You can't afford to give me this!"  
  
"Consider it a gift, courtesy of the Bank of Simon," he said.  
  
"Don't you need it? For anything?"  
  
"I've been saving for my own escape for years. I can give a little for once. I can't just.I feel like I need to pay a price for the silence we all keep."  
  
"So I'm a price?"  
  
"No! Well, yes, I mean.you're my sister, and obviously far saner than most our family. So I'm doing this for you. Blood's thicker than water and all that."  
  
"Thank you," was all she could say.  
  
"Don't bother. It's the least I could do."  
  
"Will you do something for me?"  
  
"It depends," he said with the caution born of someone part of their family.  
  
"Look out for Sam and David for me."  
  
"The twins? Why?"  
  
"Because it's too late to save Ruthie and they can't save themselves like we can."  
  
"I see. The sins of the fathers?"  
  
"Yes," Lucy said gratified. Simon turned to go, "Wait," Lucy hugged her brother, like she hadn't since she was thirteen.  
  
The next day, Lucy began the legal process for changing her name. Her past, her blood, and much of herself were still tied irrevocably to her family. Her future, though, was her own. It always had been, she was forced to admit, but she'd never known that before. 


	2. It's My Fight/I Can Win If I Want Too

The car parked outside Sophie's house was a little too familiar for Lucy's taste, so she cut around to the back door. 'I'm not running away,' she told herself. 'Discretion is the better part of valor, after all.' Looking out the front window, she discovered her fears were founded.  
  
Matt.  
  
He had come all the way across the country. 'You're married now,' she directed toward him. 'You don't get to save me from myself anymore.' Now all she had to do was make that clear to him. 'I guess it's a good thing the impossible only takes a little longer,' she told herself.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Ah!"  
  
"Calm down, I didn't mean to make you jump out of your skin. Not that that wouldn't be an interesting effect. Though the side effects wouldn't be very pleasant."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Losing your skin would almost certainly kill you."  
  
"Sophie, you're glowing!"  
  
She blushed, "I was talking to Steve."  
  
Lucy made kissing noises. "Stop it. What were you doing anyway?"  
  
Lucy pointed out the window. "My brother."  
  
"The car? But none of your brothers can drive."  
  
"Matt can," Lucy choked out.  
  
"The one who got married and moved to New York?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Then what's he doing here?"  
  
"He's come after me. So I'll go back home."  
  
"He does realize that what he's doing is illegal, right?"  
  
"Not for a Camden," Lucy whispered.  
  
"I'm glad you're not one anymore, then."  
  
Silently, Lucy Melaya, née Camden, agreed.  
  
"I'm not going to be a prisoner in my own house. You are my guest, and your family, including your erstwhile brother cannot change that," Sophie stood grimly.  
  
"Be careful."  
  
"I'm a black belt. It is my enemies who should be careful. Pity that they so seldom are." With that, Sophie opened the door and strode out.  
  
Lucy peered out through the crack in the door and eavesdropped for all she was worth.  
  
Sophie tapped on Matt's car window. "Excuse me; I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I will call the police."  
  
"I'm not committing a crime, the people in that house are!"  
  
"What crime?"  
  
"Kidnapping!" Matt climbed out of the car, and Lucy shrank back into the shadows.  
  
"Hey, who are you? Are you that Sophie girl?"  
  
"Not to you."  
  
"Answer me!" he yelled, grabbing her wrist.  
  
She pulled out of his grip. "Don't touch me. Consider that advice for your own continued good health. Call me Ms. Meredith, if you want an answer."  
  
"But I'm older than you."  
  
"Really? From your actions I can't tell."  
  
"Where's my sister?"  
  
Sophie said nothing.  
  
"Hey, I said 'Where's my sister!" he grabbed at her again.  
  
This time, Sophie smacked his wrist. He let go, and yelled, "What was that for?"  
  
"I said not to touch me."  
  
"But you're a girl!"  
  
"Woman. Exactly," Sophie kept staring straight into his eyes.  
  
Matt seemed to reconsider his tactics. "Ms. Meredith, have you seen my sister?"  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"Lucy Camden."  
  
"I know no one by that name."  
  
Matt paused to consider. "Wait! You said you're that Sophie girl!" he grabbed at her again.  
  
She kicked in the ankle and he let go to nurse the bruise. "Next time you touch me, you will be going to the hospital."  
  
"You kidnapped my sister!"  
  
"No!" Lucy screamed. She didn't know who she was trying to protect. It probably wasn't Sophie. May it was Matt. Maybe it was herself.  
  
"Luce!" I'm so glad no one's hurt you. Let's go home. Sgt. Michaels will take care of her."  
  
Lucy hadn't expected to easy way out to ever return as an option. She hadn't expected it to be such a great temptation. She wasn't prepared for it. Lucy stared at Matt. 'Well, come on,' his eyes said, speaking of forgiveness. He was so certain. Certainty was a rare quality for Lucy Melaya. Certainty was seductive.  
  
She turned to Sophie, and saw no expression at all. Her eyes neither begged Lucy to stay nor told her to go. But there was one more thing Lucy saw in her friend's eyes that made her choice very simple. Sophie's eyes didn't need forgiveness.  
  
"Matt," Lucy said softly. "Matt, I wasn't kidnapped; I left of my own free will."  
  
"But you can't do that," Matt stated.  
  
"I'm 18. Yes, I can."  
  
"But Mom and Dad would never let you."  
  
"That's the thing, Matt, they don't get a say anymore. Neither do you."  
  
"But-"  
  
"I'm living my own life now," Lucy said for the first time.  
  
"So who's the guy?" (Sophie's eyes widened in disbelief.) "Mom thought it might be one."  
  
"No guy."  
  
"She told me you broke up with Kevin. You would never not have a boyfriend."  
  
"No guy!" Lucy exclaimed.  
  
"Then is this Sophie creature drugging you? You can tell me. Not only am I your big brother, I'm also almost a doctor." He paused. "She looks like trouble. Her shirt says, 'Your Grace, I have but one question, do you want this man crippled or dead?'"  
  
"The answer, by the way, is dead. Be careful, or I might ask your sister the same question," Sophie remarked dispassionately.  
  
"I'm not under anyone or anything else's influence. I'm just for the first time in my life refusing to be rules by anyone else."  
  
"Oh," said Matt in a small voice.  
  
"I've already talked to Sgt. Michaels. You are committing a crime, and you'd probably better leave." Lucy turned on her heel and walked away. Sophie followed, a little more slowly and a lot more menacingly.  
  
"Wow," Sophie said when they got in. "I'm impressed."  
  
Lucy merely grinned and thought, 'I no longer do consent to creep! I feel the urge to fly!' 


	3. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors

Dear Simon:  
  
I want you to give the enclosed letters to Sam and David when they're old enough. I can't do anything else for them so.  
  
Dear Sam:  
  
I have no idea how old you are or who you'll be when you read this letter. You probably don't remember me in any case. I'm your older sister, Lucy. Just before you turned four I had to leave. If you're reading this, Simon's probably told you some of the story.  
  
I love you. And I want you to know that no matter where I am or what's happened, if you need help, you can come to me, or call me and I'll come to you. Simon will always know where I am, and if you answer this letter, so will you.  
  
Love, Lucy.  
  
Dear David:  
  
Though you may not remember me, I hope you remember that I love you. I'm your sister, Lucy. I'm older than Simon and younger than Mary and before you were four I had to leave.  
  
I've no doubts that by now you've noticed something strange about our family. Don't worry: it's not you. It's something out of our control. Now I pray that you have no idea what I'm talking about, but in case you do, I want you to know that if you ever need help, you can come to me or call on me. Simone will always know how to get in touch with me, and so will you if you answer this letter.  
  
I realize that you might not want to get in touch with me after growing up around Ruthie and Mary. And I can't say I blame you. But I'm your sister, so I'll make the offer anyway.  
  
I love you, Lucy  
  
Dear Lucy: I think it's really cool what you're doing for Sam and David. Are you doing okay? You don't need food or anything, do you? Dad's worried about you. He doesn't say much anymore. Mom wants you back. She thinks everything will be good again if you come back. Matt thinks you're on drugs, Marry thinks it's a boy. Ruthie says it's a secret, and the twins seem to miss you. Can I tell Dad you're okay?  
  
Simon  
  
Simon:  
  
You can tell Dad I'm more than okay: I'm going to college! Don't tell him how you know, though, I'm worried enough about Ruthie finding me as it is. Don't worry, I'm fine. I've enough food, shelter, freedom, and a dream. What more could anyone need?  
  
I'm afraid, though, that I made things worse for all of you by leaving. I hope you understand that I really had no other choice.  
  
Lucy  
  
Lucy:  
  
Oh, I understand. I saw your face after Mom hit you. I was afraid you were going to die. You've haven't really made things worse. Now that Matt's back in New York (did that friend of yours really beat him up?) and Marry stays there, sometimes seems to pretend you're in New York. For awhile, the Colonel was threatening to come straighten you out, but I think Dad convinced him otherwise.  
  
Hey, I'm proud of you! I take it that this means you'll be leaving Glen Oak? Mom's trying to set Sgt. Michaels on you again, but he won't do it for some reason. Why by the way?  
  
Simon  
  
Simon:  
  
The first time I talked to Sgt. Michaels after I left, I dared him with the truth, the law and silence. This unusual combination seems to have stumped him. While I don't want the twins left by themselves with Mom and Ruthie, but I don't know if I can really do anything to stop it that won't make it worse.  
  
Sophie didn't really beat up Matt; she just bruised him a bit. If he hadn't been my brother, I think he would have gotten it in the groin-or perhaps the throat. I will be leaving Glen Oak in the fall-for good this time. The path I've picked for myself really won't be easy but it's mine all the same, and I think I'll be happy with it.  
  
I'm glad the Colonel isn't coming. I would like to see how he'd fit Sophie into her rather rigid worldview-but I think she gets tired of dealing with me idiot (sorry!) relatives.  
  
Lucy  
  
Lucy:  
  
We are idiots. You leaving really made me think about my own behavior. I guess it's a good (but rather uncomfortable) thing. I raided your room for books after you left. I wanted to see what made you leave. No-I wanted to see what made you strong enough to leave. I never really looked at poetry before, but there's some pretty powerful stuff there. "The world is too much with us." That's what Dad says from the pulpit-but easier to swallow. And "though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light/I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."  
  
I guess I was really lucky Sophie didn't hurt me when I talked to her the night she came to our house. I have a strange feeling she wanted to. I also know I couldn't blame her if she had. I'm sorry for rooting around in your stuff.and I'd pretend it was because I just a good guy-but I've got some Camden genes whatever I do, and spying was my first thought.  
  
But I can change, right? Can't everyone?  
  
Simon 


	4. Threads in the Hand

The two girls lay on the hill. "What's your secret?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Sophie asked.  
  
"What makes you, you?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"Seriously, though," Lucy qualified.  
  
"Do you hear something?" Sophie held up her hand, and then sat up. Her face broke into the most brilliant smile Lucy'd ever seen and she started running.  
  
Sitting, Lucy discovered a tall blonde man running towards her friend. The two met and embraced, then the man spun Sophie around, her feet leaving the ground. They kissed a few times and then stood, arms around each other, apparently luxuriating in the others presence.  
  
From the pairs' actions, Lucy surmised that the man was Steve. Insane jealousy washed over her. 'Why did Sophie get love? A cute, smart, nice guy-and on the first try!' she railed to herself. 'I should get that!' The twin realizations hit her at the same time. The first was that Sophie was always herself.the second was that Lucy was still unsure who this new person, this Lucy Melaya (which meant freedom) was. 'Maybe you don't get love 'til you have a self.'  
  
There was an almost palpable glow around the two, and Lucy hugged her knees, unsure of what to do. As she watched, Sophie began to lead Steve over by the hand. The uncertainty she felt was almost calming. Lucy wasn't sure she would even recognize certainty anymore.  
  
"Lucy," Sophie began. "This is Steve, my"  
  
"love? ray of sweetness of life?" he offered.  
  
"thorn of eternal torment and damnation."  
  
"Hey, I was close." Sophie put a finger to his lips.  
  
"Steve, this is Lucy. Lucy Melaya."  
  
"Hi," she said softly.  
  
"Melaya? But didn't you use to be a Camden? And am I currently engaged in sticking my foot in my mouth?"  
  
"Yes," both girls replied.  
  
"This has none of my business written all over it. But," he added taking an envelope out of his pocket, "this is."  
  
Sophie grabbed away the envelope. She ripped it open. Her eyes popped out. "Cambridge wants me?"  
  
"Yes," he grinned. "And guess who else they want? Me."  
  
"You mean?"  
  
"Yes," he swung her around again. "We're going to England! We're going to England!"  
  
"Oh! Excuse us," he bowed to Lucy. "We're being very rude. Where are you going to school?"  
  
"It's a small college in Illinois. You've probably never heard of it. I want to be an actress."  
  
"Sophie's told me a lot about you, and I won't deny that I had my own opinions back when we," he pulled Sophie closer, "were strange, odd, bizarre, weird, a little bit frightening, crazy, and insane."  
  
Looking at them looking at her, Lucy noticed their eyes had the same depths. She saw iron and fire and yet great compassion. 'Oh,' she thought. 'That's honor.'  
  
One last time before she left, Lucy sat in the park. When she heard baby voices calling her name, she would have sworn she was imagining things. But then the twins ran up to her. "Hey David, hey Sam," she said, hugging them, but looking all the while for whoever had brought them. "Simon!" she called when she saw him.  
  
"Hi. I'm glad to see you one more time before you go off to that mysterious college of yours."  
  
"But how did you know I'd be here?"  
  
"Ever since you left I've been bringing the twins here a few times a week. You know, to get all three of us out of the house."  
  
"Good idea. But how's Ruthie?"  
  
"It's getting worse. She followed us here a few times, but then she realized we never did anything interesting," Simon looked around.  
  
"I guess it's too late for her," Lucy sighed.  
  
"You know, we used to be very close. She was never like this before-Mom's going crazy, isn't she?"  
  
"I'm afraid to say yes, but I think that's the truth." Lucy sighed, "I guess we should have figured it out by now, huh?"  
  
"Probably. It's just that there's nothing we can do, except save ourselves. And maybe these two. But it's worth it for them, isn't it?"  
  
"I won't be able to do much," Lucy admitted.  
  
"You'll be out there. I think that'll be enough."  
  
"You know you can always come to me."  
  
"I know. I pray none of us will need it."  
  
"So do I," Lucy agreed. "So do I."  
  
They were only four of nine, but they were what remained. Sometimes it doesn't take much to make family. Sometimes it doesn't take much to be a family.  
  
The knock on the church office door was timid, and Lucy cursed herself for that, while at the same time knowing she hoped no one answered. But someone did.  
  
"Lucy?"  
  
"Yeah, Dad. It's me."  
  
"Come on in!" he hugged her. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to say good-bye," she said.  
  
"Again?"  
  
"I never said it the first time. But this time I'm going to college. And I'm not coming back."  
  
Her father stared at her, as if accepting for the first time that she was an adult. "Don't you want to come back home?" he asked.  
  
"Dad, it's not home anymore. Not for me, and not for anyone else. Why do you think I came here and not to the house? I just wanted you to know that I was okay and was going to make it."  
  
"Do you need anything?" he asked.  
  
"No. Now I gotta go," she said.  
  
"Wait, where are you going? What will you do?"  
  
"I don't want to tell you."  
  
"Oh," he admitted. "I understand."  
  
"Bye, Dad."  
  
"You'll let me know if you need anything, won't you?" She nodded. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too," she said, and left.  
  
There was one last good-bye Lucy had to make. "So you're doing this for real?" Sophie asked.  
  
"Yes," Lucy was able to answer.  
  
"I'm sorry to be leaving. But I can't wait to see Stratford-on-the-Avon."  
  
"I can't believe I'm really doing this."  
  
"Look at it this way-after all you've done this year, college should be a piece of cake."  
  
"I know," Lucy smiled slightly. "Thank you."  
  
"Bye," Sophie told her.  
  
"Bye."  
  
"But don't think you're getting rid of me this easily."  
  
"I wouldn't dream of it," Lucy said.  
  
But she had enough dreams, and these were dreams that could come true. 


	5. Phoenix Rising

This is the moment. This is the day.  
  
Lucy sat in class. It was odd, being back after spending a year away. She was reminded, again, of her brief but disastrous start in New York. 'But that was for the wrong reason,' she told herself. 'For a guy. Not for me.' That thought forced her to refocus her attention on the speaker.  
  
When I send all my doubts and demons On their way.  
  
The drama class continued to cover Comedy of Errors. Lucy wished Sophie was sitting next to her. Sophie would understand all the dirty Elizabethan humor. Lucy didn't. It was lonely, being alone. Obvious statement, sure, but it had never really been driven home to her before.  
  
Every endeavor I have made, ever Is coming into play Is here and now, today.  
  
Lucy'd had friends, lots of them. And if none of them had stayed around very long, well, there'd always been boys. Maybe that was why she envied Sophie Steve-drifting from half-serious relationship to pseudo-serious relationship hadn't worked. Lucy's first real friend in years had been Sophie. But now the Atlantic separated them, so Lucy was alone.  
  
This is the moment This is the time.  
  
And yet being alone wasn't as bad as she'd always believed it to be. She was finally beginning to understand who Lucy was, and she was learning that she liked herself. She'd been frightened of being on her own, but all she found was contentment  
  
When the momentum and the moment are in rhyme Give me this moment This precious chance.  
  
At Crawford, Lucy'd been taking a class to help her find herself, but as she left her true class she realized she didn't need it. Somewhere, between school and work she'd reclaimed all that she'd mourned in that dead, dark night. Well, maybe not all, but far more than she'd dared hope.  
  
I'll gather up my past And make some sense at last  
  
Lucy slipped into the bathroom and stared at her reflection. She stuck her tongue out, mentally directing it to Annie. 'I am doing it,' she thought. 'So there.' Her hair had by now returned to it's natural color, and just brushed her shoulders. She wore a t-shirt declaring "I have issues," jeans, and tennis shoes. Her small gold cross hung around her neck.  
  
This is the moment when all I've done All of the dreaming, scheming, and screaming become one.  
  
Her faith was the one point still consistent between Lucy Camden and Lucy Melaya. Eric had a hard time living out Christ's example (some of those things about unconditional love) but that didn't change what she felt was the truth of it. So Lucy still went to church, for all the memories of her family dredged up.  
  
This is the day, see it sparkle and shine When all I've lived for becomes mine.  
  
Her stomach grumbled, and Lucy left contemplation for lunch.  
  
For all these years I've faced the world alone.  
  
"Can I sit here?" Lucy looked up. "It's Lucy, right?"  
  
"Yes, it's Lucy, Lucy Melaya. And sure you can sit here."  
  
"I'm Robert Bask. We're in the same drama class, and then when I noticed you at church, I thought I'd introduce myself."  
  
"Well, hi," Lucy was surprised to find she didn't really want a boyfriend, thought it was nice to have someone to talk to. "What do you think of Comedy of Errors?"  
  
"It's really funny. It requires a little more suspension of disbelief than most Shakespeare plays, but I like it anyway," he paused a minute, then continued, "What do you have issues with?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Your shirt."  
  
"Oh. Is life, the universe, and everything an acceptable answer?"  
  
"You read Douglas Addams?" he asked, delighted.  
  
"42," Lucy replied, smiling.  
  
And now the time has come to prove them I've made it on my own.  
  
Soon she learned to recognize, by something in their walk, or their stance, or their voice, or their eyes, those who she could talk to and who would understand. She delighted in that, for Annie had always had some control over who her friends were. It had been easier to pass boyfriends by her than friends. Annie would never have accepted a guy friend like Robert.  
  
This is the moment My final test.  
  
The library she worked in now was better than the Glen Oak Public Library. From the vantage point of a year, Lucy wasn't surprised. And to think she'd once thought Glen Oak and Buffalo constituted the entire world. Lucy laughed. He naïveté of then was a lot easier to deal with now than it had been. Perhaps because he liked who she was now, and she knew that everything she had gone through had made her who she was.  
  
Destiny beckon I never reckoned second-best.  
  
Somehow, for all that she had never worked so hard in her life, going back was never that attractive. Going back would be tantamount to giving up. And giving up would prove Annie and the rest of them right. And that she was never going to do.  
  
I won't look down I must not fall.  
  
All the same, she was homesick. Not for the mother who had slapped her and the father who was silent, but for the Camdens who lived only in her memory, and maybe had only existed there to being with.  
  
This is the moment The sweetest moment of them all.  
  
Yet that a memory-family couldn't have produced Simon whose outward rebellion had saved most of his spirit and who continued to nurture the twins. So once upon a time the other people had been loving and protective, if a little too much so.  
  
This is the moment Damn all the odds.  
  
That family had expected her to succeed, Lucy remembered. Demanded it of her, no less. 'So I'm holding true to the way we used to be, not betraying them. If anything, it is Annie who betrayed us. The world didn't destroy us, we were taken by an enemy from within.'  
  
This day or never, I sit forever with the gods.  
  
She repeated the statement she told Sgt. Michaels time and again, believing it for the first time. 'I committed no crime! I committed no crime!'  
  
When I look back I will always recall.  
  
"No one ever promised life would be easy. They only promised you would have a chance." Sophie's mother had told her that before she left. At the time, she had considered that a curse. Now, tempered by hard work, success, and friends she was able to see the statement and the chance as a blessing.  
  
Moment-for-moment This was the moment The greatest moment of them all!  
  
It is fire that kills the phoenix. Lucy had known fire. The phoenix results in ashes and dust, like an over-tested soul. But it is precisely the fire and the ashes that allow the phoenix to rise again. It is sometimes so with souls as well, that a death in ashes is only the prelude to a glorious birth from fire.  
  
Pretend that the song lyrics interspersed are in italics, kay? Oh, yes, and my apologies to Leslie Bricusse for using "This is the Moment" is association with 7th Heaven. 


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